In July, 1516, Zayla, described as then the "great market of those parts," was taken, and the town burned by a Portuguese armament, under Lopez Suarez Alberguiera, and Berberah would have shared the same fate had not the fleet been dispersed by storms. When the Turks were compelled to retire from Southern Arabia, it became subject to the Prince of Sana'a, who gave it in perpetuity to the family of a Sana'ani merchant.
The kingdom of Al-Yaman falling into decay, Zayla passed under the authority of the Sherif of Mocha, who, though receiving no part of the revenue, had yet the power of displacing the Governor. By him it was farmed out to the Hajj Sharmarkay, who paid annually to Sayyid Mohammed al-Barr, at Mocha, the sum of 750 crowns, and reserved all that he could collect above that sum for himself. In A.D. 1848 Zayla was taken from the family Al-Barr, and farmed out to Sharmarkay by the Turkish Governor of Mocha and Hodaydah.
The extant remains at Sa'ad al-Din are principally those of water-courses, rude lines of coralline, stretching across the plain towards wells, now lost,[1] and diminutive tanks, made apparently to collect rain water. One of these latter is a work of some art—a long sunken vault, with a pointed arch projecting a few feet above the surface of the ground; outside, it is of rough stone, the interior is carefully coated with fine lime, and from the roof long stalactites depend. Near it is a cemetery: the graves are, for the most part, provided with large slabs of close black basalt, planted in the ground edgeways, and in the shape of a small oblong. The material was most probably brought from the mountains near Tajurrah: at another part of the island I found it in the shape of a
- ↑ The people have a tradition that a well of sweet water exists unseen in some part of the island. When Sa'ad al-Din was besieged in Zayla by the Hatzi David, the host of Al-Islam suffered severely for the want of the fresh element.
